R. C. C.
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
There can be little doubt that the beneficent intentions which prompted the late Earl of Bridgewater to bequeath 8000l. for the production of a work On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation, were fully realised, when the late Mr. Davies Gilbert, the then President of the Royal Society, to whom the duty of carrying out such intentions was allotted, did, with the assistance of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, select for that purpose the very eminent men to whom the world is indebted for the now well-known series of books entitled The Bridgewater Treatises. And there can be as little doubt that the republication, in a more popular form, of these Essays, written by men most eminent for their scientific attainments, and for the noble purpose of proving the consistency of the works with the Word of God, is a still further carrying out of the original intentions of the testator. We are therefore glad to see that they are to form a portion of Bohn's Scientific Library. The first volume—being the first also of the Rev. W. Kirby's Treatise On the History, Habits, and Instincts of Animals, revised by Professor Rymer Jones, who has added a few notes to the text explanatory of omissions and errors incidental to the condition of zoological knowledge at the time of its publication, and with the addition of many new woodcuts—has just been issued, and is destined, we trust, to be circulated throughout the whole length and breadth of the land.
Our readers who take an interest in the literature of Germany will be pleased to hear that the Deutsches Wörterbuch of the Brothers Grimm, the announcement of which fourteen years since created so much excitement, is at press, and that the first portion of it may very shortly be expected in this country. From the specimen which has been forwarded to us by Messrs. Williams and Norgate, we think we may safely assure our readers that, while on the one hand the work will be found such as to do justice to the well-known acquirements of its distinguished authors, it will not be found to be so overlaid with learning as to be only fit for the use of profound philologists.
Messrs. Murray and Longman continue stedfast in their good work of supplying the still increasing demand for works of real value at moderate prices. The Reading for the Rail has, since we last called attention to the series, been enriched with James's Fables of Æsop, with one hundred original and beautiful woodcuts designed by John Tenniel; with the Sketch of Theodore Hook, from which we quoted in our last Number; and with an admirable collection of stories of naval heroism, under the title of Deeds of Naval Daring.
Messrs. Longman, on the other hand, have added to their Traveller's Library one of the most interesting and curious books of travels in Africa ever given to the public, we allude to Ferdinand Werne's Feldzug nach Taka, the merits of which were recently pointed out in Blackwood's Magazine, and which Mr. Johnston has well translated, under the title of African Wanderings; or an Expedition to Taka, Basa, and Beni-Amer, with a Particular Glance at the Races of Bellad Sudan. A more interesting book for the traveller, or the stayer at home, we have not met with for some time.
BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.
THE BRITISH POETS. Whittingham's edition in 100 Vols., with plates.
REPOSITORY OF PATENTS AND INVENTIONS. Vol. XLV. 2nd Series. 1824.